2 Kings 3

Chapter 3

Jehoram Meets Moab Rebellion

¹Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria ^ain the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.

²He did evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and his mother; for ^ahe put away the sacred pillar of Baal ^bwhich his father had made.

³Nevertheless, ^ahe clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^bwhich he made Israel sin; he did not depart from them.

⁴Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and ^aused to pay the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams.

⁵But ^awhen Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

⁶And King Jehoram went out of Samaria ¹at that time and mustered all Israel.

⁷Then he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” And he said, “I will go up; ^aI am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

⁸He said, “Which way shall we go up?” And he ¹answered, “The way of the wilderness of Edom.”

⁹So ^athe king of Israel went with ^bthe king of Judah and ^cthe king of Edom; and they made a circuit of seven days’ journey, and there was no water for the army or for the cattle that followed them.

¹⁰Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! For the Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.”

¹¹But Jehoshaphat said, “^aIs there not a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?” And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, “^bElisha the son of Shaphat is here, ^cwho used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”

¹²Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

¹³Now Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do I have to do with you? ^aGo to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” And the king of Israel said to him, “No, for the Lord has called these three kings together to give them into the hand of Moab.”

¹⁴Elisha said, “^aAs the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you.

¹⁵“But now ^abring me a minstrel.” And it came about, when the minstrel played, that ^bthe hand of the Lord came upon him.

¹⁶He said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Make this valley full of trenches.’

¹⁷“For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind nor shall you see rain; yet that valley ^ashall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, both you and your cattle and your beasts.

¹⁸‘This is but a ^aslight thing in the sight of the Lord; He will also give the Moabites into your hand.

¹⁹‘^aThen you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and fell every good tree and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.’ ”

²⁰It happened in the morning ^aabout the time of offering the sacrifice, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

²¹Now all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. And all who were able to ¹put on armor and older were summoned and stood on the border.

²²They rose early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood.

²³Then they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together, and they have slain one another. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil!”

²⁴But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites arose and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went forward ¹into the land, ²slaughtering the Moabites.

^25aThus they destroyed the cities; and each one threw a stone on every piece of good land and filled it. So they stopped all the springs of water and felled all the good trees, until in ^bKir-hareseth only they left its stones; however, the slingers went about it and struck it.

²⁶When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him 700 men who drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not.

²⁷Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and ^aoffered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land.